Betsy

Hello! My 3rd grade, 9 y/o son was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia and disorder of written expression. Neuropscyh recommended daily reading/writing intervention for 60 minutes, 5 days/week , "provided 1:1 or in a group of no more than 3 with students of similar ability", "using a structured literacy approach through a teacher/tutor highly experienced in working with children with dyslexia and certified in the chosen method to deliver it with fidelity. " Neuropscyh also recommended "continued services through the summer to prevent regression." (These recommendations came as an IEE b/c I disagreed with the school's evaluation. I know the CSE is only required to "consider" the recs of neuropsych) My son attends a small private school. The local district is offering their resource room. They use Wilson Fundations, but there are no certified teachers in the WRS. Our principal visited and was told that the district has no dyslexic students in the district. The CSE chair told another family with a 2nd grader diagnosed with the same things as my son, that they would never begin with tutoring at our school in order to pursue the "least restrictive environment." I understand that LRE involves making program decisions about what services and supports a student needs to be successful and where and how those services and supports can be provided effectively. "Least restrictive" seems to me receiving services at our school, rather than leave our environment and attend in a different classroom with unfamiliar students and teachers . Does that seem like a reasonable argument? The CSE chair seems to know very little about dyslexia and the recommended instruction methods. How would you suggest that I advocate for: 1) a certified instructor to deliver structured literacy with fidelity 2)a small group of less than 3 or ideally 1:1 instruction 3) How have you advocated for tutoring as direct instruction or a direct service? What would instruction in a resource room be considered if it's not a direct service?) Does the neuropsych recommendation for "services through the summer" qualify for extended school year? If so, how do I ask for that? So much to learn! Thanks for your help. Betsy

Thank you, Carolyn. Knowing that a quarter/grade period is a sufficient window in which to mark progress is helpful. Interestingly, now their objection (shared with another family with a dyslexic student) is that our school doesn't provide sufficient instruction, so they will not qualify him. I found this document https://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oct10.pdf which states that they can't deny eval OR SERVICES to private schools who don't use RTI/MTSS and states that they should look at other documents/information as listed in the NYSED law 216 to determine if instruction was sufficient. Our neuropsych report (paid for by them in an IEE) clearly states the need to classify, but they may not even get to his disability if they dismiss our students as not having been properly instructed. Ugg.

Thank you for your reply, Carolyn. We got to the IEE because I disagreed with the school's evaluation from 4/2022 which only identified anxiety as qualifying him for a 504b which was created by our private school. I appreciate the specific wording for the goals...How long do you think that you have to "let the district try it their way"? 3 months? a year? It's sad given the amount of research into what helps to remediate dyslexia that we have to go the "wait and see route".

My 3rd grade son was recently diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia and disorder of written expression by neuropsych through an IEE. He attends a small, private school. The public district uses Wilson Fundations for Tier 1 intervention, with review of the Fundations material coming through the resource room. Neither teacher is Wilson certified. I've been told that the CSE isn't allowed to name a specific intervention program (OG, Wilson, Barton, etc). I'd like him to receive tutoring at his private school. Is that justified? What would I need to demonstrate in order to support such a request?